Marco Rubio slammed after criticizing Anthony Fauci while cutting in line for vaccine

Marco Rubio receives Pfizer vaccine. Image via Twitter.

Sen. Marco Rubio trashed Dr. Anthony Fauci’s evolving advice on face masks. Then he withered criticism online for taking the advice of a Senate physician and receiving a vaccine.

Rubio on Sunday leveled criticism against the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“Dr. Fauci lied about masks in March,” Rubio tweeted. “Dr. Fauci has been distorting the level of vaccination needed for herd immunity. It isn’t just him. Many in elite bubbles believe the American public doesn’t know ‘what’s good for them’ so they need to be tricked into ‘doing the right thing.’”

That’s a major shift in tone from Rubio’s public comments at the start of the pandemic. In March, the Senator posted on Medium about the need to follow the advice of scientists when it came to quarantines and social distancing.

“First things first, we must recognize the basic fact that all countries will struggle with both the economic and human impacts of this pandemic,” Rubio wrote then. “Because of the coronavirus’s scale and high rate of transmission, the vast bulk of nations are likely to suffer outbreaks before any preventative measures can stop them. What is most important is reducing the number of deaths associated with the virus as much as possible.”

But the newest tweet seems to take the lead from those who argue the wider spread of the coronavirus will lead to herd immunity more quickly, a strategy promoted within the White House by controversial COVID-19 advisor Dr. Scott Atlas before he resigned.

Notably, Fauci’s advice on mask wearing has in fact shifted substantially. In February, he advised against the general public buying masks, even suggesting possible unintended risk of exposure as “people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.”

He’s since become a mask wearing advocate, saying the situation has changed because there’s no longer a shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers and the disease is more widespread.

Rubio’s tweet came as Fauci acknowledged to The New York Times he has changed his estimates on herd immunity. Fauci’s comments suggest he changed a projection from 75% to 90% public immunity after seeing polling that confidence has reduced in Americans regarding approved vaccines.

But the comments from the Senator exacerbated criticism he’s weathered since posting a photo of himself receiving a vaccine. As a member of the Senate, he was allowed to take a vaccine and showed pictures of himself doing so to increase public confidence in the treatment.

Rubio, however, doesn’t fall into any of the at-risk groups included in early rounds of vaccine distribution.

Fort Walton Beach attorney Daniel Uhlfelder suggested the Senator should not cut in line while undermining those working to convince Americans of the importance of the vaccine.

“Marco Rubio is a 49 year old healthy man. He is not a first responder. He is not a teacher. He is not a fireman. He is not a health care worker. He cut to  (the) front of (the) line to get COVID-19 vaccine,” Uhlfelder said. “He lives in an elite bubble.”

Democrats within Rubio’s home state joined in critiques.

“You have told many lies to Floridians to maintain your Trump fan boy status and protect your political ambitions,” tweeted Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. “But, lying about COVID is dangerous and costs lives.